1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to software graphics applications and, more specifically, to methods and systems for in-place shader debugging and performance tuning.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well-known, graphics applications usually include many different shading programs (referred to herein as “shaders”). Software developers commonly encounter situations where individual shaders must be modified in order to eliminate programming bugs or improve application performance. A typical cycle for debugging an application starts with a developer compiling and running the application and looking for anomalies as the application runs. One type of anomaly may be a visual anomaly, such as when the armor of a knight being rendered is not shiny enough. Another type of anomaly may be a performance anomaly, such as a low frame rendering rate. Once an anomaly is detected, the developer typically exits the application, attempts to identify the error in the shader code, makes appropriate modifications to the shader code, re-compiles the application, and then runs the application again to see if the modifications to the shader code fixed the anomaly.
One problem with this cycle is that, even for moderately sized applications, the turn-around time associated with exiting the application, making modifications to the shader code, re-compiling the application, and then running the application again from the beginning may take a significant amount of time. For example, the process of re-compiling the application alone may take from several minutes to several hours. Another problem is that identifying the part of the shader code responsible for the observed anomaly may be a daunting task because of the large number of frames and the large number of shaders associated with the application. Furthermore, after making the modifications to the shader code and re-compiling the application, the developer must be able to reproduce the original conditions, such as a specific location, camera angle, and setting within a game sequence, used to identify the visual anomaly well enough to determine whether the shader code modifications fixed the anomaly.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a more efficient technique for shader debugging and performance tuning.